President Donald Trump has finally administered the long awaited coup de gras to his befuddled secretary of State, former oil executive Rex Tillerson. By all accounts, ex-Boy Scout and long-term Exxon chairman Tillerson was an honorable man. However, success in the private sector is not always followed by success in government. History will record Tillerson’s short tenure as unimpressive and, worse, as presiding over the demise of the State Department and the Foreign Service. Former Congressman and CIA Director Mike Pompeo, long rumored as Tillerson’s replacement, will take over—maybe. Now the fun and games begin. First, Pompeo must be confirmed by the Senate. This will offer the Foreign Relations Committee [...]

Re-assess the Second Amendment? Most people would reject the notion at face value. Others would be more critical. After all, only one amendment, the 18th that prohibited the sale and use of alcoholic beverages, was ever repealed. And most Americans believe that the right to bear and carry arms is sacrosanct. Yet, beyond the terrible toll gun violence is taking on the nation—-and the horrific killings in a Florida school last week are the latest outrage—-there is another fundamental reason for re-examining this amendment. The amendment reads “A well regulated militia, necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to bear and carry arms shall [...]

Release of the so-called Nunes Memo that challenged the integrity and objectivity of the FBI in securing a warrant under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to investigate Carter Page has erupted into a political firestorm and earthquake of at least 10 on the Richter scale. The tragedy is that this memo is further and redundant evidence of a government that is badly broken. Shame on both Republicans and Democrats who have wielded this memo as a blunt instrument to bludgeon the other side. The memo itself would receive a failing grade if it were submitted as a paper in any respectable law or graduate school. It asserts much and [...]

Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Last week, senior officials of the Defense, State and Energy Departments presented the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review. However, a great opportunity was lost. Instead of a serious evaluation whether or not the current Triad should be kept or modified, the NPR simply assumed continuing the current structure. Key recommendations followed respecting the limits imposed by the New Start Treaty of 1550 deployable warheads for both Russia and the U.S. Fourteen Ohio Class nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBN's) would be replaced by a dozen Columbia-class SSBN's; 46 B-52H and 20 B-2A nuclear capable bombers with the new B-21 Raider; and 400 Minuteman III ICBM's with 400 new [...]

Is America governable? That is no longer a bizarre or even a silly question. America faced existential danger during the Revolution, Civil War and the Great Depression and times of great distress and anger such as during the Vietnam War and the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. Yet, government still functioned. That is no longer the case. The past four or five decades have resulted in excessively politicized politics that are now crippling the ability to govern. Since the early days of the Vietnam War culminating with the 2016 elections in which both presidential candidates had hugely unfavorable ratings among the electorate, politics have [...]